


Enough For Now

by DontCallMeStraightOrCis



Category: Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Genre: M/M, i found this in my drafts and went to correct one spelling and ended up finishing it.... okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25592530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontCallMeStraightOrCis/pseuds/DontCallMeStraightOrCis
Summary: Kochanski's gone, Rimmer's back, so things should be back to normal. Key word: should. But nothing's that easy when you're dealing with one Arnold Rimmer.
Relationships: Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Enough For Now

Rimmer was in a mood.

  
Now, admittedly, he was always in a mood. Lister was sure he had been from the day he was born, frowning and cussing out the nurses in incomprehensible baby babble. But regardless, today, he was in an especially bad mood.

  
"What's up with him?" Cat asked, as Rimmer stormed away after flinging their game of Scrabble at the door.

  
It was a bit confusing since none of them actually been playing Scrabble, but it had made for a dramatic exit.

  
Lister shrugged, taking a sip of his beer. He could still hear Rimmer kicking up a storm as he stomped down the corridor, but who knew who he was actually talking to. He would have said the skutters, but they had all long learnt how to hide in shadows and behind corners to avoid Rimmer 'in a mood'.

  
"He's been like that all morning, sirs," Kryten complained, "He yelled at me for ten minutes, insisting that I'd done the ironing wrong."

  
Kryten's lip trembled, as much as a stiff android lip could, and Lister gave him a sympathetic pat on the arm.

  
"Aw, don' listen to him Krytes, you know no one does ironing better than you."

  
Kryten sniffed loudly and nodded his head.

  
"Thank you, sir. I just wish he'd stop being such a _smeee_ -"

  
"Listen, I'll go talk to him," Lister cut in.

  
The more upset Kryten was, the longer he dragged out the smee, and Lister wasn't sure he was in the mood for that. He'd once dragged it out for ten minutes and almost drained half of his battery.

  
"You sure that's a good idea, bud?” Cat asked. “He's snappier than terrier about to get the snip."

  
"No, but he'll only get worse if no one indulges him."

  
"Alright, good luck," he huffed.

  
He went back to the sewing machine, Kryten hovering behind him, pin cushion in hand, ready to assist. The two chatted quietly between themselves about a movie they had watched the night before, and Lister couldn't help but smile at the sight.

  
Age had softened them all, the bastard.

  
He shook his head and walked out of the room. Now, Rimmer.

  
"Holly?"

  
Holly appeared, sleepy-eyed and blank-faced as always. Lister had always wondered why they'd decided on such a... miserable-looking expression to be the AIs default. Sure, it didn't affect how Holly worked, but it wouldn't have hurt to make a more cheerful AI, would it?

"I hope this is for something important. I was in the middle of organising my books. I was thinking of doing it in order of how many scandals the author has been in this time."

  
"You're an AI, you don' have books."

  
"I do. They're just not physical ones.

  
"How can you organise them if they're not physical?"

  
"Ah, well that's what I was just about to find out."

  
Lister took a deep breath in, then let it go. Some things just weren't worth it. Holly was most of those things.

  
"Look, can you tell me where Rimmer is?"

  
"He's on the observation deck throwing a hissy fit."

  
Ah. Of course.

  
"Thanks, Hols. Have fun... organising your books."

  
Lister had always liked the observation deck. It's where he'd spent most of his nights during his first week on Red Dwarf. It'd had been nice to escape from the newness and strangeness of everything and look up at the sky, knowing he was seeing the same stars now as he had ten years ago with his gran on earth. It was... grounding.

  
Rimmer seemed to like it too, but Lister wasn't sure why. Maybe Rimmer liked going up there and imaging he was the ruler of it all; it didn't sound too off base for him.  
He didn't turn around when Lister entered, just continued scowling at the stars like they had stolen his winning lottery ticket off him after insulting his haircut. 

  
"Hey man, you alrigh'?"

  
"What do you mean alright? I'm fine."

  
"You just seem... a bit worked up today."

  
He scoffed loudly.

  
"Why do you care?"

  
The question made Lister pause.

  
The answer itself was simple and if Rimmer had been anyone else, he wouldn't have struggled to stay it. But unfortunately, Rimmer was Rimmer.

  
You couldn't just tell him you liked him, you had to argue for five minutes with him about how you liked him. And even then, he wouldn't believe you. Or he’d act like a smug git. Either way, you lost.

  
Lister put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

  
"Because I'm the one who's always gotta deal with you when you get in a mood like this."

  
"You're not my childminder."

  
"Nah, but I am your roommate."

  
"Then move out." Rimmer sighed and tightened his grip on the railing. "Have you ever thought about that? Decades we've been stuck here, and we've never had different rooms."

Lister rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall.

  
"Jus 'noticed tha', have you?”

  
Rimmer didn’t respond.

  
"So come on, wha' happened?" Lister repeated. “We _jus’_ had this room argument yesterday. You usually give it a week at least before threatening to move out again."

  
“...You had Kochanski.”

  
Lister paused and Rimmer continued.

  
“You had Kochanski here, living and breathing, and you let her go? Without saying anything? I wouldn't have even known she was here if Kryten hadn't complained about how hard her bras were to iron!”

  
“What was there to say? She was here, then she wasn't. Simple as.”

  
Rimmer spun around with a look of complete confusion on his face. 

He'd started using less product on his hair after his return, letting what few curls he had left free, like the one brushing down against the bridge of his nose. Lister rather liked it. It was fun watching them bounce around wheever Rimmer got particualrly animated. 

  
“What to mean nothing to say?" Rimmer asked. "She's the woman you've been hopelessly in love with for years!”

  
Lister thought about it.

  
“Nah.”

  
Rimmer’s shoulders dropped and he frowned.

  
“ _Nah_? What do you mean _nah_?”

  
“I mean _nah_. She was a different Kochanski altogether, weren’ she? Lovely, don' get me wrong, but nothing like the one I loved.”

  
“So? She was still Kochanski.”

  
He remembered him and Krissy dancing badly in his room to Blondie, spinning and laughing, trying to get some time in together before Rimmer came back from his Love Celibacy club meeting. He remembered him and Kochanski sitting on the observation deck, looking up at the stars, listening to her explain how she had fallen in love with her David.

  
The ache was still there when he thought about her - them - but it was calmer now, a more comfortable ache, like the one that appeared when he remembered his gran or dad.

  
"But I don' love Kochanski no more."

  
Rimmer jaw dropped, his eyes as wide as Mars.

  
"Y-You don't love Kochanski?"

  
Lister shook his head and rubbed a bit at his chest.

  
"Don't think I have for a real long time."

  
There was silence for a moment, and Lister tried to remember why this had all started in the first place... Oh right.

  
"Does your bad mood have something to do with her?"

  
Rimmer took in a deep breath and stomped over. He pulled an envelope out of his jacket and shoved it at Lister, crumpling it. He took a step back, arms crossed, looking angrily at the stars.

  
Well, that wasn't really an answer, but it was something, Lister figured. He'd take it.

  
He smoothed the letter out and looked at the front. In elegant loopy writing were the words 'To David'. Ah. So that explained it... wait, no it didn't.

  
"How'd you know this was from Kochanski? Our one had completely different handwriting."

  
Rimmer cleared his throat and looked at the floor.

  
"You opened it, didn' you?"

  
"Now, milladdo-"

  
" _Rimmer_ , I thought you'd promised you'd stop going through me letters?"

  
"It was a matter of security?"

  
"Security? Wha', were you scared I was gonna get a paper cut from it?"

  
"I-"

  
"Shut it."

"...I didn't read all of it," he insisted, "I stopped after the first paragraph."

"You're a real piece of work, you know tha'?"

  
Before he could argue back, Lister took the letter out of the already opened envelope. Smeghead.

  
_Dear David,_

  
_Or is it more appropriate to call you Lister? I still haven’t worked that out. Not that I suppose it matters anymore... You know, I think I'll miss you. Even though I'll have my Dave soon, I think I'll still miss you. I hope you don't miss me; you've already got one Kochanski to miss, you don't need another one._

  
_Sorry, I got ahead of myself. If you're reading this, I’m going home… hopefully. And_ hopefully _we’ll never end up in each other’s orbit again (I don’t think your Kryten would be able to take it). I’d like to say thank you for some things, and fuck you for others… I’m sure you’re smart enough to work out goes for which. You certainly took me for an… interesting ride. I’m not sure what my David is going to think of all this, but it’ll be a fun story to tell at the very least. I’m sure my Kryten will be both horrified and smug over the fact that he does know how to iron a bra…_

  
_And thank you for the… DNA… there’s no real delicate way to say that, is there? Well, I’m sure you understand what I mean._ Hopefully _this baby won’t just turn into you again… I think I’d like to name them Theodore, after you since I obviously can’t go with David… wait, I didn’t actually ask you if that was your middle name in this world… shit… well, regardless, the thought was there and I hope you appreciate it._

  
_One last thing quick, do you remember that night in the observation deck? When_ I talked _about me and Dave? I was thinking about something that night, but I never said it, and I think now’s a good time. You asked me if I ever thought you’d find someone to be happy with and, David, I think you already have. I sure as hell don’t understand it, but I’m sure you still don’t really understand me either, so what is there to judge?_

  
_I hope he comes back to you, and I hope you don’t let him go this time. You deserve to be happy._

  
_Love,_  
_Kochanski._

  
Lister cleared his throat, face flushed, and quickly tucked the letter in his pocket.

  
Kochanski certainly had a way with words.

  
“So?” Rimmer snapped.

  
“So wha’? She jus’ said goodbye.”

  
He scowled.

  
“I don’t believe that for a second.”

  
“Why not? You think there’s some secret confession in there or something? You didn’ think our Kochanski really liked me even back when we was dating, so why’d you think this one who already has her own Dave would?”

  
Rimmer looked away and shrugged.

  
“Maybe she hit her head.”

  
Lister sighed, rubbing at his temple.

  
Dealing with Rimmer was like trying to get a germaphobe to leave the house. Sometimes, it didn’t feel worth it… but just because it felt that way, didn’t mean it wasn’t.  
Lister put a hand on Rimmer’s shoulder, watching the way he immediately tensed. He gently rubbed a thumb against the shoulder blade, trying to make Rimmer ease up, just a little bit. 

  
“Wha’s this all about, Rimmer? She’s gone now, wha’ does it matter wha’ she said in a letter?”

  
“…It matters because you care. Or at least, you’re supposed to.”

  
“I do care about her,” Lister argued, “jus’ not the way I used to. There’s nothing wrong with moving on, is there?”

  
There was silence for a few seconds, then Rimmer let out a sigh, relaxing completely as he stared up at the stars.

  
“I don’t know why, but when I left to be Ace, I thought everything would be the same once I go back… if I got back, that is.”  
“It is the same, for the most part… Kryten knows how to iron bras now… kind of.”

  
“You know what I mean…” He rolled his shoulders and Lister’s hand slipped away. Rimmer turned, face carefully blank. “Do you really not love her anymore?”

  
Once, when Lister was young, he had been running late for dinner and had taken a shortcut through a forest. He came across a bridge that had collapsed in the middle and came to a halt at the end. The gap wasn’t massive, the ground below it not too far down, but with his heart racing, it felt dangerous. It was either risk the jump, or find another path and definitely be late.

  
This felt like that bridge.

  
So, he took a deep breath, stepped forward, and grasped onto Rimmer’s hand.

  
“Cross me heart and hope to die, I haven’ loved Kochanski in years.”

  
Rimmer looked down at their hands and, slowly, put his other hand on top of Lister’s. It was cold and something like static pricked at Lister’s skin.  
“What are we doing, Lister?” Rimmer asked in a quiet voice.

  
“Something I think Kochanski should approve of.”

  
Rimmer raised an eyebrow.

  
“Really?”

  
“Yeah. You said you didn’ think she’d jus’ said goodbye, and you’re right. She also said she hoped I found someone too, tha’… tha’ she thought I might have already found him.” Lister looked down at their clasped hands, smiling warmly. She was awfully smart, that Kochanski. “I missed you like smeg the first week you was gone. Thought I wouldn’, but I did.”

  
“…I couldn’t sleep for the first few days,” Rimmer admitted, “god, I never thought I’d miss your smegging snoring.”

  
Lister let out a quiet laugh and, after a moment of hesitation, kissed Rimmer’s hand.

  
“It’s nice to have you back.”

  
Rimmer’s entire face was completely red at this point and his hands were quickly becoming clammy. Lister thought there was something strangely charming about just how awkward he was.

  
“I-It’s nice to be back…smeghead.”

  
It wasn’t quite a love confession, but they’d get there eventually. It was enough for now at least.

  
Lister pushed up onto his tiptoes and kissed Rimmer’s cheek as the stars gazed down upon them. Yes, it would be enough for now.

"But if you go through me mail again, you're definitely sleeping in another room."


End file.
